Julio Preciado

Born in the Mexican city of Sinaloa, Mazatlán on December 1st, 1966, singer Julio Preciado made his mark in the early 1990s as a prolific contributor to the local Sinaloan banda scene, drawing upon a myriad of influences from rancheras, northern traditional music and European fanfare to make for distinctly regional results. Chiefly covering classic songs from the decades before him, Preciado spent stints as the lead singer of various smaller bands – namely Banda Tiburón and Banda El Limón – before taking over from Conrado Calderón as the frontman for the popular brass group Banda el Recodo in 1991. Remaining with the group for a plethora of strongly performing albums over the course of seven years, he eventually went solo in 1998, inking a deal with BMG, assembling the Banda Perla del Pacífico, and unveiling his debut album, the aptly titled Tu Ya Lo Conoces (You Already Know Him), all within a year. The LP proved an instant success, rapidly achieving platinum certification in both his home country and the US. It yielded several hits, including the international smash “Dos Hojas Sin Rumbo”, which topped the Mexican charts and reached #16 in the specialist Billboard chart of the time. Returning with new solo albums on a near-annual basis, Preciado has since crossed over into mariachi on 2001’s Entre Amigos, paid homage to veteran singers Ramón Ayala and Juan Gabriel with dedicated cover albums, and signed to Warner, reuniting with his Banda el Limón colleagues in 2015 on the Ni para Bien Ni para Mal bonus track “Lloremos Por Ellas”.